Clipper girls respond well for first win

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By Mike ZHEmwhaley@fosters.com

PORTSMOUTH — Ready. Set. Exhale.

Anyone who watched the Portsmouth High School girls basketball team struggle offensively in its opening-night loss at Pelham Friday couldn’t have been encouraged by the start against Kennett on Tuesday:

One made shot. Four misses. Four turnovers.

Clear memories.

“I was all nerved up,” said Portsmouth coach Danny Parr, “because I didn’t know what kind of team we had.”

The rest of the night calmed everybody down.

Guards Phoebe Collins and Tighe Loch each scored 11 points, and the Clippers built a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter and won their first Division II game of the season, 54-31.

It was a neat flip of Friday’s result, a 57-35 loss that saw the team struggle with its outside shooting and overall offensive performance.

“We wanted to come back from what happened last Friday,” said center Alicia Brown, whose night included seven points and four blocked shots. “We came back strong and kept it together, got the flow going.”

Forward Lauren White scored a game-high 14 points for Kennett, which was playing its first game of the season. But the rest of her young team combined for just six baskets.

Defensively, the Clippers were in midseason form. Led by the 6-foot-2 Brown, they blocked eight shots, with Collins swatting a couple on the perimeter. They forced 21 first-half turnovers.

“Defensively we took them out of their game early and it was pretty good all game,” said Parr.

“Portsmouth played tough defense on us and we had too many turnovers,” said Kennett coach Larry Meader.

The Clippers closed the first quarter on a 15-2 run to build a 17-4 lead. They loosened up the Eagles’ 2-3 zone defense when Loch, a sophomore starter, and then Collins buried long jumpers on consecutive possessions.

“Those were the shots we weren’t making or even taking (Friday),” said Parr. “We have big kids and everyone’s going to be (packing) it in on us. If we can make these shots we’re going to be better.”

The lead grew to 27-10 in the second quarter when Abby Salvadore finished off a feed from Devon Parker. It was 28-12 at the half.

Kennett, the Division II champion in 2010 and a semifinalist in 2011, is in rebuilding mode. Of the 31 players listed on its varsity and JV rosters, all but five are freshmen and sophomores, and their experience took a hit when White, a senior, had to leave the game in the second quarter after colliding with a Portsmouth player. She wouldn’t return until midway through the third.

“I thought we rebounded OK against (Brown), but we’re definitely outsized when we go to our bench,” said Meader. “Then we lose one girl and another gets in foul trouble. We get small and young awful quick.”

There were a couple times the rest of the way where the Eagles could have cut the lead to under 10 and churn some stomachs, but both chances were missed and the Clippers would ultimately convert at the other end to inflate their advantage.

The Clippers, who went 15-5 a year ago and reached the Division II quarterfinals in Parr’s first season, have good size inside with Brown, the 5-foot-11 Parker and Christina Jones, but there are questions about where the offense is going to come from.

Parr said practices Sunday and Monday after the opening-night loss were excellent, but he still was nervous abut what the product would look like on game night. His team plays at Oyster River on Friday.

“The most important thing, since we got absolutely pounded on Friday, was to see how they were going to respond,” said Parr. “The kids responded well.”